Electrowinning and electrorefining are often used in hydrometallurgical processing of ore to recover metal, such as copper, silver, platinum group metals, molybdenum, zinc, nickel, cobalt, uranium, rhenium, rare earth metals, combinations thereof, and the like from ore. The recovery of metal from ore often includes exposing the ore to a leaching process (e.g., atmospheric leaching, pressure leaching, agitation leaching, heap leaching, stockpile leaching, thin-layer leaching, vat leaching, or the like) to obtain a pregnant leach solution including desired metal ions, optionally, purifying and concentrating the pregnant leach solution, using, e.g., a solvent extraction process, and then recovering the metal, using an electrowinning and/or electrorefining process.
An electrolytic system for electrowinning and/or electrorefining may include a plurality of electrolytic cells. Each cell generally includes an anode assembly, a cathode assembly that is spaced apart from the anode assembly, and an electrolyte solution between an active portion of the anode assembly and an active portion of the cathode assembly. In the case of electrowinning, metal is recovered from the solution by applying a bias across the cathode assembly and the anode assembly sufficient to cause the metal ions in solution to reduce onto an active area of the cathode. In the case of electrorefining, the anode assembly includes relatively impure metal, and upon application of a sufficient bias between the anode assembly and the cathode assembly, a portion of the anode dissolves in the electrolyte and refined metal from the anode is deposited onto the active area of the cathode assembly.
In the case of multi-cell electrowinning and electrorefining systems, the multiple cells may reside within one or more tanks, and the cells may be in a parallel and/or serial configuration. The multi-cell system may include a contact bar assembly to couple multiple anode assemblies and multiple cathode assemblies together, such that desired power can be simultaneously applied to multiple assemblies from a single power source.
In typical multi-cell systems, the anode and/or cathode assemblies may be askew, such that the spacing between adjacent anode assemblies and cathode assemblies are not consistent across the active areas of the anode and cathode assemblies. In addition, the cathode assemblies and the anode assemblies may be off-center relative to each other. And, the spacing between adjacent cathode assemblies and anode assemblies may not be the same or consistent. Also, the systems may allow for only limited contact between the respective assemblies and portions of the contact bar assembly. Further, the cathode and/or anode assemblies may not sit horizontally within the tank. Accordingly, improved contact bar assemblies and electrolytic systems are desired.